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Stables Area: then and now ...

This is the area of the stable yard in the mid- to late-1800s, before the stables were built. The double tunnel is clearly visible (with its lower half bricked up!) as is the corner tunnel. In front of the corner tunnel is another tunnel within the edge of the large block supporting the garden above. Reproduced courtesy Liverpool City Libraries

This is the same scene in 1998. Ugly pre-fabs are on the left and the double tunnel is obscured by trees.

Here are three views of the corner of Smithdown Lane and Grinfield Street:

The image above is from about 1860 and includes a couple of Williamson's grand houses up on the hill. Reproduced courtesy Liverpool City Libraries

Above is a rare shot from the 1960s showing old terraces on Grinfield Street, with Rigby's corner shop. Reproduced courtesy Liverpool City Libraries

Above is the same scene in February 2000, with the new student flats development nearing completion.

Finally, a couple more interesting old pictures ...

Above is a rare 1960s shot of the long-lost Congress Street, which branched off Smithdown Lane. The stables were behind the houses on the left. These tiny terraces were built without cellars. With what was underneath them, they wouldn't have needed any! Reproduced courtesy Liverpool City Libraries

This Herdman painting from about 1860 shows the view a few yards to the left of the Congress Street photo. Behind the remains of Williamson's boundary wall one can quite clearly see the top of the double tunnel. Above that, the upper storeys of one of the grand houses Williamson built on Mason Street. Reproduced courtesy Liverpool City Libraries